This is exciting!
Folks, the tide is turning!
An experienced superintendent announced that he will run for state superintendent against Janet Barresi, the current superintendent who is a member of Jeb Bush’s shrinking Chiefs for Change.
Barresi worked as a speech pathologist, then became a dentist. She opened charter schools. She is part of the Jeb (“test ’em until they cry, then give everyone a grade”) Bush school of thought.
Her challenger rejects the corporate reform rule book:
Dr. John Cox has been a superintendent for 20 years in Oklahoma.
Read this from Dr. Cox:
“I chose to run for state schools superintendent because I do not agree with the current reforms that are being forced on our public schools,” Cox said. “It is time that we return to trusting our teachers and believing and knowing that they are professionals.
“It is also time that we trust principals and superintendents to do their job, and return local control back to our school boards and communities.”
He said he believes his candidacy was a way to being part of a process to save public education in Oklahoma.
“The only recourse that we as educators have, is to work towards improving our schools by fighting for local control, taking care of our teachers, and making a system that allows all children to be successful,” Cox said. “It is time that we take a common sense approach to accountability.”
Cox said the major challenges facing the school superintendent and school districts, in general, is adequate school funding.
“We lead the nation in school funding cuts since 2009, and we need to advocate for increased funding,” Cox said. “Some people will say that throwing money at public schools does not increase student learning, but I will tell you that extra funds help provide … personnel that have direct contact with students and will provide more one on one learning for our students, which will improve student learning.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think this is great and hope, for the OK kids he winds, but I have to say that in Colorado the State Superintendent (called a Commissioner) is under the thumb of the State Board of Education (elected) and the legislators (who pass bills to “help” schools).
oops, typo …”and hope, for the sake of the OK kids, he wins”
Colorado teacher, it looks like one of your congressmen has posted a comment on Diane’s blog entry regarding Alice Mercer’s review. Check it out.
“The only recourse that we as educators have, is to work towards improving our schools by fighting for local control”
Bless you, Dr. Cox.
This is why we find ourselves in a mess today. We are still cleaning up “local control.” No, what we need is everyone involved to be accountable. Starting with superintendents, then principals, then teachers, then students. We adults have “made” it already. It’s time to help our children . . . give them a chance. Prepare them for the future.
Awesome! I hope that this spreads nation wide.
And if local control translated into the citizens within a district taking a hard look at their own prejudices in order to banish them and finally offer “successful” education to all kids from every economic strata…well democracy would get very interesting quickly. That would mean education and not animal training or lion taming or aiming at testing targets out on the shooting range.
How refreshing, the first of many to come including school boards and high lever administrators soon. Public process is the death of the billionaires and this person has all the right things to say and if they follow up and are elected it is a beginning of the end of the billionaire domination for power and money with education of our youth being the last thing on their mind unless it is for their profit.
Do you really think that “billionaires” are the only people thirsty for power and money? This is why it is important to keep accountability in our shools at all levels of the bureaucratic system. It’s called checks and balances. Kids know which teachers are their solely for themselves (far too many) and which ones care. My advice, if you don’t like kids (teens including), do society a favor and don’t make life miserable for students.
I am excited to see Dr. Cox running for the office. I have friends and family who left the Oklahoma State Department of Education for other jobs when they learned that Janet Barresi won the election. She has systematically brought Florida’s system of private education to Oklahoma and has turned the state educators against her in the process. It is a prime example of seeing a system where the individual parts are against the leader. It is rather sad because our students, stakeholders, teachers, schools, education in general, and the state of Oklahoma are suffering as a result of her ideological stance toward public education. Dr. Cox works with diverse students and understands the idea of equity. This concept does not exist in the Oklahoma State Department of Education today, but I have hope.
Sounds like this “superintendent” is pretty much bent on advocating for bureaucracy. Of course we need to respect teachers, principals, etc., but we also need to respect the need for accountability. It is time for us to think about what is best for our children. Give more options. State testing is good for those students who didn’t get A’s on their report cards, but did just fine (better) on the state exam. This is called accountability. If you give one source of bureaucracy too much power, this is not good. The state should not have all the power, but neither should local schools. There needs to be a balance. Plain and simple. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely! Please folks, remember this.
Testing children until they are literally sick is NOT the answer. Yes, there are teachers who do not care and who do not have the children’s best interest at heart. However, there are teachers who do care. Teaching children in third grade the only thing that matters is a score on ONE test does nothing for that child.
I am so excited to be supporting Dr. John Cox & to vote for him on Tuesday in the primaries!
Dr. Cox is the superintendent of a tiny district — one school — with a faculty of 11 and a student body of 250. That is a deep concern for me when I think of the mess our schools in OK are in. He is a sincere educator. No doubt. But does his experience base give him the skills and tools to run the state’s education program? I’m concerned. Would love for him to get more varied experiences and run again.